Sport's Strangest Crimes – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Technical and general information from the podcast's RSS feed.

Sport's Strangest Crimes

BBC Radio 5 Live

Sports

True Crime

Frequency: 1 episode/83d. Total Eps: 111

When sport collides with true crime.

Site

RSS

Spotify

Apple

Recent rankings

Latest chart positions across Apple Podcasts and Spotify rankings.

Apple Podcasts

🇬🇧 Great Britain - sports
11/08/2026
#89
🇬🇧 Great Britain - sports
10/08/2026
#74
🇬🇧 Great Britain - sports
09/08/2026
#78
🇬🇧 Great Britain - sports
08/08/2026
#84
🇬🇧 Great Britain - sports
05/08/2026
#100
🇬🇧 Great Britain - sports
04/08/2026
#63
🇬🇧 Great Britain - sports
03/08/2026
#49
🇬🇧 Great Britain - sports
02/08/2026
#40
🇬🇧 Great Britain - sports
01/08/2026
#49
🇬🇧 Great Britain - sports
31/07/2026
#62

Spotify

🇬🇧 Great Britain - trending
14/08/2025
#164
↗
🇬🇧 Great Britain - trending
13/08/2025
#168
↗
🇬🇧 Great Britain - trending
12/08/2025
#176
↗
🇬🇧 Great Britain - trending
11/08/2025
#180
↗

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

Links found in episode descriptions and other podcasts that share them.

See all

No links shared by this podcast

RSS feed quality and score

Technical evaluation of the podcast's RSS feed quality and structure.

See all

RSS feed quality

To improve

Score global : 58%

Publication history

Monthly episode publishing history over the past years.

Year

Latest published episodes

Recent episodes with titles, durations, and descriptions.

See all

Trailer

Season 1 · Episode 1

Tuesday, June 1, 2021 • Duration 00:43

This is the story of the world’s most high-profile kidnap...of a horse. Welcome to Epsom, the year is 1981 and Shergar, a prized stallion, has just won the 202nd Derby by ten lengths - the longest winning margin in the race’s history. Owned by the Aga Khan, the millionaire community leader, the champion horse gained international prominence and was regarded as a national hero during a difficult period in Irish history. On a cold winter night in 1983, a group of armed men entered the Ballymany Stud in balaclavas and stole the stallion declaring: "We have come for Shergar. We want £2 million for him." The codeword for future negotiations was to be King Neptune. While the facts of this case have been widely reported, this series unpicks the theories about the disappearance. We’ll revisit all the bizarre events that took place after the kidnap, from psychics to horse skulls to negotiations led by English journalists. We unpick the police case and the comedy character leading it, trilby-wearing superintendent James Murphy and meet the sport’s journalist Derek “Tommo” Thompson who was flown to Belfast to negotiate the release. Using archives, news reports and new interviews, we go along on a ride that has some strange turns, oddball characters and juicy conspiracies. Almost 40 years on from his kidnap, we look back at a story that gripped the world to try and understand why the horse’s legacy still lives on. Told by the Texan tones of Vanilla Ice, we’ll reveal some of the strange theories that made this Irish story go global.

Read moreCollapse

1. And They're Off!

Season 1 · Episode 2

Tuesday, June 1, 2021 • Duration 27:01

A horse is kidnapped in the middle of the night. His name was Shergar.

He’s not just any horse, he's a prize-winning racehorse owned by an enigmatic spiritual leader, made famous for winning the 1981 Epsom Derby by 10 lengths.

A celebrity, a symbol of hope for Ireland, but mostly a real money earner. He was retired and ready to produce more prize-winning offspring, when suddenly he was taken.

Vanilla Ice has become fascinated with the story and sets the scene...

Read moreCollapse

2. The Wild West

Season 2 · Episode 3

Monday, September 27, 2021 • Duration 32:12

England's mens cricketers are preparing for a match that could change their lives forever. A one-off game that could net them $1 million each with one run, wicket or catch. It's a unique and extraordinary sporting prospect bankrolled by Allen Stanford. But how? Wasn't he just a washed up business failure from Texas?

After the collapse of his gym business Allen is declared bankrupt. However a chance meeting with a mysterious European traveller in the Caribbean reveals a surprising new business venture in offshore banking on the island of Montserrat - a place known as the 'Wild West of Banking'. Stanford targets money from Latin America with clients seeking a safe haven for their finances away from corrupt governments at home.

However the activities of Stanford's business dealings soon alert the attention of both the FBI and Scotland Yard, with both having suspicions that is all is not above board. In episode two of 'Sports Strangest Crimes: Allen Stanford - The Man Who Bought Cricket' , Greg James continues on his quest to find out who exactly Allen Stanford was and the truth behind his business empire.

Read moreCollapse

3. Antigua

Season 2 · Episode 4

Monday, September 27, 2021 • Duration 44:31

After leaving the island of Montserrat, Allen moves his growing banking empire to the newly independent island of Antigua. Here he quickly realises that cricket is THE sport in the Caribbean, the game that everyone loves and follows and hatches a plan to invest in a new T20 tournament in the West Indies. He invests millions of dollars, signs up the greats of Windies cricket and sets the ball rolling on his cricket revolution.

However while his banking business appears to be blossoming with thousands of customers investing hundreds of millions of dollars, behind the scenes law enforcement operations are still concerned and continue investigating the Texan and his operations. There are rumours of money laundering, bribery, lax accounting and even 'blood oaths' with senior regulators. Yet nothing seems to be able to stop Allen Stanford. He is the Lord of the Manor in Antigua and now he has his eye on revolutionising the game of cricket.

Read moreCollapse

4. The Match

Season 2 · Episode 5

Monday, September 27, 2021 • Duration 39:39

Antigua, 1st November, 2008. Months after landing his helicopter on the Nursery Ground at Lord's, complete with a box of cash in tow, Allen Stanford's dream is now a reality. The waiting and talking is over.

One cricket match for $20 million. The winning players will walk away with a cool $1 million each, the losers will get absolutely nothing. One catch, one wicket or one run could be the difference between winning a life changing amount of money or leaving the field with nothing. According to one player the pressure made him 'feel sick'.

It was The Stanford Superstars versus England for a unique and groundbreaking cricket match organised and bankrolled by the billionaire banking magnate Sir Allen Stanford. The coverage would be beamed around the world as cricket fans across the globe prepared themselves for a cricket match like no other.

However away from the glitz, glamour and headlines of a match likened to the 'OK Corral', there were growing concerns amongst some players. What would happen to squad players who didn't make the starting XI, should they get any money? What about coaches, physios, analysts and other team members?

The concept of Allen's match might have looked simple on paper, but things are not always what they seem.

Read moreCollapse

5. Whistleblowers

Season 2 · Episode 6

Monday, September 27, 2021 • Duration 32:46

After the groundbreaking $20 million cricket match, Allen Stanford was headline news across the cricketing world and beyond. He had delivered on his proposal to create a unique piece of sporting theatre, a cricket match the like of which had never been seen before. So as England's mens cricketers headed home following their defeat in the million dollar match, their counterparts in the West Indies celebrated their victory.

However away form the celebrations in Antigua a couple of former Stanford employees have started a chain of events that could have huge implications for Stanford and his huge business empire. But billionaires don't shy away from a fight, especially when everything could be at stake. Sensing danger Allen employs all the tools at his disposal to try and stop the whistleblowers in their tracks.

Read moreCollapse

6. Hurricane Season

Season 2 · Episode 7

Monday, September 27, 2021 • Duration 39:16

Just a few months after the $20 million cricket match in Antigua, a perfect storm is brewing around Allen Stanford and his sprawling business empire.

There are 'red flags' everywhere and with the financial world imploding the authorities in America are under pressure to act quickly before it's too late. But taking on a billionaire is not for the faint-hearted, there can be consequences. Both the FBI and SEC are nervous about their next steps, but fearing he could be another Bernie Madoff and is running a Ponzi scheme they hatch a plan to try and find out the truth about Sir Robert Allen Stanford.

It's a race against time with billions of dollars and people's livelihoods at stake.

Read moreCollapse

7. Hell

Season 2 · Episode 8

Monday, September 27, 2021 • Duration 47:30

After attempted undercover operations, revelations from whistleblowers and numerous investigations going back years, the authorities in the USA decide to move against Sir Allen Stanford. In doing so the shocking truth behind his business empire is at last revealed to the world.

However, big questions remain: Will he face justice? Where is the money? What will happen to thousands of investors? How will the cricket authorities react to the news that the man who 'bought cricket' is not all they thought he was? What about those who assisted his criminal activities throughout the years?

In the final part of 'Sport's Strangest Crimes: Allen Stanford The Man Who Bought Cricket', Greg James discovers who the real Allen Stanford actually is and the truth about his business empire.

Read moreCollapse

Coming soon to Sport's Strange Crimes... The Trillion Dollar Conman

Season 3 · Episode 1

Monday, February 21, 2022 • Duration 05:25

From Nottingham to North Korea - how conman Russell King took the oldest club in the football league to the brink of oblivion with promises beyond their wildest dreams.

All episodes will be available on Monday 21st February 2022 on BBC Sounds.

Read moreCollapse

1. The Promised Land

Season 3 · Episode 2

Monday, February 21, 2022 • Duration 30:08

From the world’s oldest football league club to the communist dictatorship of North Korea, this incredible story has it all.

It’s a tale of greed and intrigue that takes us on a journey from the streets of Nottingham to the Gulf kingdom of Bahrain. At the heart of it, a conman who fooled football bosses, a London bank and foreign regimes. Russell King’s audacious multi-million pound scam brought the world’s oldest professional football club Notts County to the brink of oblivion.

The story begins at the club’s ground Meadow Lane. It’s 2009 and the team has just managed to maintain their Football League status after years of fighting for survival. Out of the blue comes a knight in shining armour with promises of untold wealth from the Middle East and ambitions to catapult the club from the lowly fourth tier to the Premier League.

Enter former England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson and England and Arsenal legend Sol Campbell. All of a sudden Notts County are surfing the crest of a wave – they’re off to the promised land. But is all as it seems? Or are their dreams about to be shattered?

Sound designer: Paul Lewis Producer: Nick Southall Series Producer: Ben Robinson Editor and Executive Producer: Carl Johnston

Read moreCollapse

Sport's Strangest Crimes – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Sport's Strangest Crimes – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify